


First Day of our Lives

by RavenXavier



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Arranged Marriage, Character Death, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Genderbending, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Love at First Sight, M/M, Multi, Soulmates, Underage Relationship(s), implied hate crimes, mostly very vague historical setting, you could be confused by pronouns sometimes i'm sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-03
Updated: 2013-12-03
Packaged: 2018-01-02 04:48:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1052702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenXavier/pseuds/RavenXavier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It doesn't matter where or when; all they need is a glance to recognize each other. Their faces, their whole stories may change every time, but their eyes reflect their souls, and Marius and Cosette's have been entwined together for an eternity already.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Day of our Lives

**Author's Note:**

> Marius and Cosette tend to awake the most romantic, fluffly feelings in me, and I'm pretty sure this story will make it obvious. 
> 
> Thanks to the wonderful and amazing [Mornmeril ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/mornmeril/pseuds/mornmeril/) who is the best of the best and agreed to beta for me :). 
> 
> You can find me[ here ](http://somuchbetterthanthat.tumblr.com), if you want! I hope you will like this!! :)

Marius couldn't hide it if he tried, so he simply doesn't and beams at Courfeyrac when he enters in the Musain, Feuilly's bakery. Courfeyrac, because that’s just who she is, beams back at him and ushers him to the table where Combeferre, Enjolras, Bahorel, Joly and Grantaire are already seated. Combeferre and Enjolras are engrossed in a discussion about Herault’s latest speech on taxes and barely stop to greet him. Bahorel and Joly smile at him, before returning their attention to Enjolras and Combeferre. Grantaire doesn't even raise her eyes. She seems lost in her thoughts (or maybe in Enjolras's face).

“Tell me!” Courfeyrac says immediately after he sits next to her.

“You won't believe me.” He laughs, his cheeks reddening despite himself.

“You just made me more curious, darling,” she answers, and then proceeds to give him her prettiest smile, which works far too well on Marius. It's a weapon which should have lost its power by now. Courfeyrac uses it at least once per day, and yet Marius still gives in almost every time.  

He sighs, and prays their other friends are too busy listening to Enjolras and Combeferre to care about him. As much as he loves them, he knows how they'll all react if they hear about Cosette. Courfeyrac will tease him, though Marius knows that she'll genuinely be glad for him. She'll wish for it to work out for him, she always does.

“I met a girl,” he declares. “I'm in love.”

“A girl!” Courfeyrac exclaims excitedly. “You! Marius! A girl!”

She speaks too loudly of course; he should have waited until they got home. Still, this was bound to happen, so he only bites his lips when Joly squeals and turns around, completely forgetting about Enjolras and Combeferre. Bahorel raises his eyebrows.

“I saw her today, just an hour ago actually. She's beautiful, Courfeyrac. You're going to love her,” Marius says.

“You're already thinking of introductions?” Joly asks with a grin. “What's her name, then?”

Marius feels himself blushing harder.

“I – I don't know,” he admits because it's true – maybe she's not Cosette this time, even though he's Marius.

“Did you really talk to a girl and _forget to ask her name_?” Courfeyrac asks, sounding delighted.

This is going to be painful, Marius thinks, and says: “We didn't actually talk. At all.”

The funny thing is that even Combeferre and Enjolras stare at him blankly after that, even though Combeferre usually tries to stay very neutral about his friends’ love life (it's a necessity, really, when you're _Combeferre)_ and Enjolras just doesn't care about anything romantic. Or sexual. Or anything that implies that two people are closer than usual friends in any way possible. Marius would laugh, but Joly does it first.

“Oh, _Marius_!” He giggles, and then has to hide his face in his napkin because he's laughing too hard.

“What really happened, then?” Combeferre asks.

Enjolras glances at him like she can't believe he actually asked that. Marius is a little bit stunned himself.

“I saw her,” he says. “And then she saw me and – I tried to get off the bus, and I think she tried to get _on_ the bus, but it left before either of us succeeded. Still, it's her – I know it's her.”

“So let me get this straight,” Bahorel interjects. “You saw a random girl on the street, she looked at you, she was pretty, she wanted to get on the bus – and because you exchanged glances for ten seconds, you know she's the love of your life? That's not how it works, dude, I'm sorry.”

“Oh shut up, Bahorel,” Grantaire drawls. “Let the kid dream. Love at first sight - It's so _fucking_ romantic!”

 _It is,_ Marius doesn't say. _And that's how it works for me, Bahorel. It's how it's always been. I need just one_ _look to see. That's how I recognize her every time. That's how I recognize_ all of you _every time._

Courfeyrac seems to sense his sudden distress gently pats his hand. Marius's heart is heavy. It feels wrong, suddenly, to be here. He needs to be with her; he needs to find her.

He needs – He needs _Cosette._ Because of all of them, Cosette is the only one who always, always remembers at the same time as him and god, they have so many new memories to make already.

*

(000)

It all begins in Ancient Greece, he thinks. At the very least, it’s the first life he remembers.

He has a father and a mother and he isn't particularly rich, but his childhood has been fairly happy. He loves languages, and his good friend Jehan (of course, he's not _Jehan,_ but Marius isn't Marius either – it's just that they are the names that come up the most often, and so they are the ones he uses in his mind) suggests he should go see Combeferre – he's a philosopher, and he's famous in their little city. Marius goes, because Combeferre could give him work and you can't refuse such a thing.

He meets Enjolras first.

Enjolras is married to Combeferre. She's beautiful; she's terrifying; she's a goddess on Earth, and Marius is awestruck. He's not the only one. He soon learns that there are only two slaves in Combeferre's household: Feuilly and Grantaire. Grantaire is hopelessly devoted to Enjolras, more so than her own husband. They don't try to hide it, which ought to be scandalous, except Combeferre and Enjolras are really not a typical couple. And as soon as Marius has set foot in their home, he’s changed forever, although he doesn't know exactly how much at first.

Bahorel is there, too, and Courfeyrac – free men, the both of them. Joly and Musichetta are married – they married for love, which is quite rare in those times, and Marius is a bit envious. Bossuet is their slave. He's also their lover. That's more common.

They are all revolutionaries. Marius is both terrified and fascinated by their quiet conviction that _things are not right and we should change them._ He follows them. He educates himself. He becomes a revolutionary too, and doesn't even realize it.

He’s planned to meet Feuilly near the Temple of Athena one day when he meets her.

She's small and young; she has dark eyes and brown hair and she's walking with an older man. Their gazes meet. Marius is frozen. Cosette – he doesn't know it's her yet and still – Cosette smiles shyly and they don't speak at all, but it's as if they don't need to. She's gone too soon.

That night, he doesn't sleep – her face is engraved in his mind and he's so confused by whatever has awoken in him, and the strength of it, that he just weeps for hours until the sun rises.

In the morning, he goes to the Temple of Aphrodite because surely only the goddess of love will have an answer for him. Somehow, he is barely surprised when he recognizes the girl from the day before kneeling in front of the altar. He kneels down next to her. She turns her head and smiles.

He smiles too and, very slowly, lets his fingers brush her hand.

“Hello,” he says.

“Hello,” she answers.

Marius is in love.

(She's fourteen and he's eighteen but, they're married by the time Demeter is reunited with her daughter and flowers grow back. They're so happy it hurts some days. When she's seventeen, Cosette gives birth to a baby girl who dies before the month is over. Cosette never speaks again, and Marius becomes foolish and speaks too loud instead. He gets attention from the wrong people. He's twenty-three when he's finally executed for treason. All of his friends have run or been killed already. Cosette is executed at his side. _I love you,_ he says desperately at the very end. _I love you too,_ she answers, her voice weak from so much silence.)

*

(003)

Marius is playing alone by the river, alone when he sees her. Courfeyrac has left him to go play with Enjolras and Combeferre – he says they talk about great things and he wants to hear more about it. Marius remembers what happened to all of them the previous times, and the water seems a safer choice.

It was the right thing to do. He's carefully building a house with twigs when a shadow falls on it. He raises his eyes. Cosette can't be more than ten; she's so very small. She's got dark braids and dark eyes that sparkle. Her smile is huge, and he can't help but grin too.

“Is that our house?” she asks.

“Ours will be bigger,” he answers.

“I missed you,” she says.

“Me too,” he says back.

She sits next to him and they hug. It's comfortable and familiar. Marius wished he could stay like this forever.

(They have a month together. They remember being adults before, but they act like children only. They spend every day playing near the river. They hold hands and they talk and talk and talk until Cosette, crying, tells him that her father is taking her away. The morning after, it's like she was never there. Marius grieves. Five years later, Courfeyrac asks him if he wants to leave for the west with Combeferre and Enjolras and Jehan and Joly. Marius says yes, hoping he will find her again. He dies of some unknown sickness before the end of the year, and this time the last thing he sees is the horrified glint in his best friend's eyes.)

*

(007)

Marius –  who is actually called Mariette in this life – is married off at thirteen to an old count of thirty-five called De Parnasse. His existence is made up of sadness, loneliness and terrors of the night until De Parnasse invites his good friends, the De Thenards, for the summer. Marius is in her best dress the day they arrive. They have five children, four girls and a boy. They are loud and rude and petty, except maybe for the eldest daughter, who is also the only one who tries to talk to Marius – it's Eponine, of course, dear Eponine. She tells Marius all about her father's servant, a boy with no grace, no manners and no intelligence.

“There!” Eponine says one night, near the end of the a huge feast. “There, look how ridiculous he is!”

Marius turns her head. She meets two blue eyes that are painfully familiar. She's a girl, she thinks, of course Cosette would be a boy. They smile at each other like they can't believe the other is real. Cosette looks older. Marius can't keep her eyes off her – him. Eponine is sullen.

That same night, Marius flees her rooms and stumbles into Cosette in one of the corridors – Cosette was coming to find her. They laugh quietly. Marius leads him to a little room where no one will find them and they kiss before they even say a word.

“You're a girl,” Cosette says.

“You're a boy,” Marius says.

“You are beautiful,” Cosette sighs.

“I've been waiting for you,” Marius declares and realizes that it's true as soon as she says it.

Cosette kisses her again. They spend the night talking and crying and kissing. Marius never wants to let go of Cosette ever again.

(At the end of the summer, Cosette – who's actually called Eugene - tells her they should run away far from here and they do. They are incredibly poor, but they're safe and happy. Bossuet, who is a priest in this life, marries them in secret when Cosette is seventeen and Marius fifteen. They have ten beautiful years together and a little boy with red hair that everybody calls Feuilly, because he's always playing with leaves. Cosette dies of the plague first. Marius knows she will follow soon. She gives Feuilly to Bossuet, and begs him to take care of their son. She dies a week later.)

*

(009)

Marius has just seen Enjolras and Grantaire die and he's hiding in a cave, still crying. He can still see them behind his closed eyes, proud and defiant until the very end, holding hands and facing the white men that invaded their territory. Murderers, all of them, Marius thinks, and he vaguely remembers he was one of them before, a long time ago, and he's disgusted with himself.

He hears noises too soon – he knew they were coming for him, he just didn't think they would be so fast. He takes his knife, the only weapon he has left, and silently promises all of his friends that he will die like them, defiant until the very end.

He rises from the ground and gets out of the cave. Outside, there is only one man. Marius freezes.

“Oh,” he says.

The man – Cosette, god, it's Cosette, how can it be _Cosette_ – is petrified too.

“Oh,” he says again. “Oh, no.”

Cosette finally moves. For the first time in their lives, Marius takes a step back.

“No, no,” Cosette says, looking hurt. “It's me – please, I love you.”

“I –” Marius begins.

“Found another one, Fauchelevent, have you?” a voice cries. “Let me do the honours!”

“ _No_!” Cosette shouts.

It's too late already.

(They barely had five minutes together. Marius says _I'm sorry_ , _I shouldn't have,_ thinking about his stupid step back. _Don't die,_ Cosette cries, and the last thing he feels is her – his – hands on his bare torso, soaked with his own blood.)

*

(010)

Italy is maybe is favourite life.

His grandfather is educating him, and he's severe and rude, like he always is. Marius doesn't care, because Courfeyrac is his older brother in this life and Courfeyrac always protects him. Together they spend their childhood playing under the brilliant sun of Firenze. Combeferre is their neighbour; Enjolras doesn't join them until they're twelve and he finally escapes the tyrannic hold of his parents. Jehan is with him. They're not allowed to play with them, Jehan admits shyly, because they're not as rich as them. It’s stupid, Enjolras declares immediately, forever defiant and yet astonishingly afraid that they're going to reject them because of their parents' idiocy.

They don't.

When he's sixteen, Courfeyrac asks Marius if he wants to leave with him to go the city, and he agrees immediately, because he can't imagine not being at Courfeyrac's side. There they meet Bahorel and Feuilly, who are magicians and forever stealing from the richest – not because they need it; but simply for the pleasure and exhilaration of “the adventure”. They try to steal from Bossuet, once; Joly stops them by hitting them with his cane, and somehow they all end up friends at the end of the day.

By the time he's twenty, Enjolras, Combeferre and Courfeyrac are beginning to think more seriously about what could be changed to improve Firenze. Marius watches them and hopes that this time – this time they won't be foolish or too brave. Maybe they'll succeed, maybe nobody will die until they're all fifty at least.

“Unlikely,” Grantaire snorts when Marius tells him about it one late evening, after too much drink. “Let them be foolish. They are young souls; the fire in them burns too brightly still, but one day it will extinguish and we will all mourn the return of the cold.”  

Grantaire is a painter. He says he stays with them all because they all have pretty faces and they let him ramble more often than anybody else before. It may be true, but everybody knows that the main reason is whatever happens when Enjolras sneaks into his house at twilight. Marius knows it's because this time around, Grantaire remembers _before_ and he's desperate for their love and friendship.

“They are old souls,” Marius says. “We all are, aren't we?”

Grantaire offers him a bitter smile: “My dear Marius, by now you should've learned that some souls grow old faster than others. Now be a good friend and come to my rooms tomorrow. I have a young lady coming for a portrait, and her father doesn't trust her to be left alone with me; we need someone respectable to watch over us, and I'm sure you can play the part.”

Marius _is_ a good friend _,_ so of course he comes the next day.

The lady arrives with her father a few minutes after Marius. She's slim and oddly pale for this time of the year, but her hair is dark brown and delicately pinned up and her eyes are very dark when they meet his.

She blinks, and he tries so hard not to smile widely that he ends up making a poor first impression on her father. He can't bring himself to think about it at the time, because he's twenty and it's so late in his life already – but now Cosette is here and everything is alright in the world.

Her father has barely left Grantaire's house when Cosette is upon him.

“I thought maybe I wouldn't find you this time,” she says.

“I missed you so much!” he declares.

They hug. He buries his head into her hair and she clings to him fiercely, as if he was going to be taken away from her soon.

“I love you,” she whispers into his skin.

“Me too,” he whispers back.

“Are we going to paint this portrait, or should I leave you two alone?” Grantaire asks.

Marius blushes and Cosette glares at Grantaire, who only smirks at them.

(It takes time to convince Cosette's father that Marius is worthy of her, but in the end he loves his daughter too much to deny her happiness and his protests that Marius is too poor for her die when she begins to beg. She's eighteen and he's twenty and their life is simple and beautiful. They have two daughters and a son – the son is intuitive and cunning and beautiful and they know it's Eponine, they just do. At sixty-six, Cosette dies peacefully in her sleep. Marius follows her two months later.)

*

(011)

The next time, they're sisters.

Marius is three when Cosette is born. She's the only one who can make her sleep for months.

(It's awkward and horrifying because they remember all their marriages, but they're also family this time, and both female – it happened before, but they never had much time together. It still doesn't stop them from both going to the same covent. They kiss only once, when they're nineteen. It's not so different from the times before, but they don't dare do it again. They die at twenty-one and twenty-four, together, when a fire destroys their covent.)

*

(014)

They share a glance in a park.

Then another, and another, and another until Marius makes a stupid mistake and suddenly she's not there anymore. Courfeyrac teases him endlessly, and Joly and Bossuet don't stop asking questions. Eponine helps.

He finds her again much later. It's late in the night and the garden is beautiful, but Cosette is even more so in the moonlight. They press their hands together first, then their lips.

“We'll have a happy life,” he promises her.

“I won't settle for anything else now that you're here,” she answers.

They spend the whole night talking to each other. At the end of it, they're laughing because they've realized they're actually called Marius and Cosette this time – it's good to be able to use their names without fear of someone looking at them weirdly.

( _Happy_ is more difficult than he thought, especially after the sixth of June – or rather the end of September, when he learns that they're all dead; all of his friends, none of them survive. He never really stops grieving, but Cosette is there and he loves her so much. He clings to her and she never stops holding him. They have three boys. The youngest is Jehan. He dies too young but happy, just old enough to see the revolution of 48. His last memory is of Cosette kissing his hand and whispering _until next time, my love._ )

*

(017)

She's not there the next time, nor the one after that, and by the third, Marius is terrified he’s not going to find her again. He's fourteen and it's 1916 and he's a sad child. Grantaire is there – he's the only one and he doesn't remember. His grandmother hates him and he doesn't have any siblings. It's too hard.

When he's sent to stay with his uncle, who lives near the ocean, he falls into the water by accident, trying to carry a box that’s far too heavy for his feeble arms. It's an accident, he swears – but he doesn't try to save himself.

(His last vision is of a young man with a funny beard screaming something at him. There's a rope in his hands. _Oh,_ Marius thinks, infinitely sad, _I'm sorry Cosette._ He closes his eyes and opens his mouth to breathe.)

*

(018)

“Sweetheart, you’ve got to come to this pub!” Courfeyrac says. “Bahorel owns it now, and he's going to be very cross if you don't go and see what he's done with it!”

“I'm fifteen!” Marius protests, but he's laughing.

Courfeyrac is so very stylish in this life. She's joyful and always talking, and she’s made everything better for Marius. She's older than him by six years, but she doesn't seem to care, so he doesn't either. Enjolras and Combeferre are waiting for them right now to make up their minds. They don't have the same sense of style as their best friend, but they're as beautiful as usual and as bright and fierce as always.

Marius is so glad they're back in his life. It gives him hope.

“You know Bahorel doesn't care, you ridiculous boy!” Courfeyrac retorts. “Now come. There's going to be singing tonight!”

The pub is an old thing that Bahorel called “The Muse”. It's his baby and he has punched several guys already who have dared to insult the place. Grantaire is behind the bar, and he stands up straighter when he sees them arrive. Courfeyrac giggles.

“He loves you so, Enjolras. When are you going to end his suffering?”

There is a little smirk in the corner of Enjolras's mouth. “When he behaves,” she says and waves at Grantaire without stopping to talk to him.

So many lives together, Marius thinks, and he still doesn't understand a thing about these two.

He sits between Combeferre and Courfeyrac and looks at the little stage where Bossuet and Joly are currently bringing their comedic act to a close. The people who were there before them are crying with laughter. Joly himself is laughing, and Bossuet looks like it's very hard for him to stay serious. They have to stop altogether and salute their audience, sparing a word for Bossuet's girlfriend Musichetta (she’s both their girlfriend, of course, but not many people are aware of that. What a scandal it would be!)

Feuilly announces a singer for the next part of the evening.

Marius gapes when Cosette appears under the lights.

She's tall and very blond; she could be Enjolras's sister. Her eyes are blue, and her lips really, really red. Marius is standing before he can even think properly. Across the room, Cosette catches his eye, and her next smile is radiant with happiness.

“I was going to begin with a particular song,” she says. “But I've just seen a very dear friend of mine in the room, and I've changed my mind. Is that alright Jehan?”

Jehan, who is seated behind the piano, nods. Cosette whispers something to him and then returns to the microphone. She offers a smile to Marius again and begins to sing “How deep is the Ocean”.

“Do you know her, Marius?” Courfeyrac whispers. “You are hiding things from me!”

“It was a very long time ago,” Marius says quietly, fighting tears of joy.

The performance is astounding. Cosette sings like a angel, which doesn't surprise him at all. Everyone falls silent and listens to her for the next twenty-five minutes. When it ends, Marius gets up again and claps harder than anyone else - apart maybe from Combeferre, who looks amazed.

“Will you introduce her, Marius?” she asks.

“Later,” he answers, and flies towards the stage.

Cosette meets him halfway. She jumps into his arms, laughing with delight.

“You're really here!” she says. “It's been so long, I thought I was dreaming!”

“You were amazing,” Marius declares. “You are wonderful, I love you, I love you, I'm sorry I didn't wait last time.”

“It wasn't a nice time for either of us, it's alright. We're here now,” she answers, and she's half-crying now. “This one is going to be beautiful, Marius.”

Marius thinks he's crying too.

“Yeah,” he says. “Of course it's going to be beautiful. Look at you – look at us. We'll be perfect.”

(They have seven years. War comes and goes, it's hell in Europe and yet it seems so far here in America. Bahorel, Grantaire, Feuilly and Bossuet are sent to Normandy. Bossuet loses a leg, Feuilly finds a girl, and when Grantaire comes back Enjolras is the first to welcome him back and she asks him to marry her. It's 1945 and Marius thinks that he can't be happier – and then Cosette falls ill. _It's incurable_ , the doctors say. _Don't fret,_ Cosette says weakly, _we'll see each other soon._ Marius swallows hard and he doesn't say: _what if we don't?_ She dies in December. Marius has never been able to live without Cosette very long. He dies two years later in a plane crash.)

*

(019)

Marius is a woman again – Mary, she's Mary, but she still likes Marius better - it's always strange to be a woman. She's never been to London before, but Joly and Bossuet were insistent about this trip. They say she doesn’t get out of her little town enough. Every young person ought to be in London these days - or so Joly has claimed repeatedly. Maybe she's not wrong, Marius admits. After all, Courfeyrac has been telling her to join him for over a year.

London _is_ an interesting city. It's also very hard to resist the general good humour of Joly and Bossuet. During the day, they're joined by Grantaire, who declares himself as their city guide, and then Jehan, who takes Grantaire's arm and doesn't let him go, which earns him several big smiles from the older man.

Marius is still laughing at an awful pun from Bossuet when she sees her from the corner of her eye. She turns around so abruptly she accidentally rams into Joly.

“Cosette!” She screams. “ _Cosette!_ ”

It's a wonder Cosette even hears her, but she does. She turns her head, looking shocked. She's got short, red hair this time around. Her eyes are grey and wide with wonder. Marius grins and runs towards her. She's stopped by a taxi – the man behind the wheel swears loudly at her, but Marius doesn't care at all. Cosette is coming her way.

“Who's Cosette?” Jehan whispers behind her.

“Someone important, I'd say,” Grantaire whispers back.

The first thing Cosette does when she's finally close enough is touch Marius's blond hair. She beams at him.

“You're so beautiful,” she says.

“I wish I wasn't a girl,” Marius blurts out, looking at her avidly. “I really want to kiss you,” she whispers when Cosette raises her eyebrows.

“Times are changing, my love,” she replies, leaning in slightly.

“Maybe not enough for a public kiss,” Marius says without moving.

“I missed you so much,” Cosette sighs.

“You were gone so soon last time,” Marius murmurs.

Their kiss is slow and too short – behind them, Grantaire whistles, but Marius doesn't even pretend to be angry at him. Her hand moves to touch Cosette's cheek. Cosette closes her eyes. Her smile is so peaceful; Marius feels her heart beat faster in her chest.

“I love you,” she says.

“We'll always have eternity,” Cosette answers simply.

(Times _are_ changing, but not fast enough. Marius and Cosette share a flat for ten years and it's glorious – it always is. On the 10th of August in 1983, Marius and Cosette are cuddling on the couch, watching an episode of Doctor Who, when someone abruptly bursts into their apartment. There are four of them; one of them is the kid of their upstairs neighbour. They scream insults and they beat them senseless and they _touch_ them and – when they leave, Marius knows Cosette is dead. She knows she's going to follow soon. She has no tears left. She uses her last strength to take Cosette's hand.)

*

(020)

He searches for her endlessly. He forgets to sleep, he forgets to eat, he forgets to speak and he doesn't hear anything his friends are saying until one morning, when Courfeyrac slaps him across the head.

“Here's an idea for you, darling,” she says when Marius sends her an affronted look. “If she's really the love of your life, then she's looking for you, too, isn't she? Have you thought – and maybe it's stupid of me but, really – have you thought about going back to _the place you last saw her?_ Because I dearly hope she’s clever and did that. _If_ she's looking for you.”

Marius gapes at her.

“Oh,” he says.

“You're hopeless.” Courfeyrac smiles fondly. “I'm scared of what you would do without me!”

“You're the best friend I've ever had, Courf,” Marius says and he hugs her impulsively. Courfeyrac laughs, half-delighted and half-surprised.

“I love you too,” she says. “Now go get her, tiger.”

Marius has grown so used to finding her easily, he’s clearly become rusty. That afternoon, he goes to the bus stop where he saw her the other day, and he waits. An hour. Then two. Then three.

At five, night is beginning to fall and Marius closes his eyes and tries to stay optimistic. He has to. _He has to._ He needs to see her again. He needs to know that she's fine, that he didn't dream her. He needs –

There is a soft hand in his hair.

“You were losing hope again, weren't you?” a voice whispers in his ear.

“Cosette.”

It's all he manages to say before his voice breaks. He opens his eyes – she's small again. Her hair is dark blond, and her eyes are blue once more and she's here, she's here, she's here. Cosette is crying too, but her smile is huge and happy, as always. She slides into his lap and puts her arms around his neck.

They don't kiss, this time. They don't say anything else, they just breathe each other in, forever in sync even as the world around them moves on.

( _She's real,_ Courfeyrac will gape later and then beam at them and welcome Cosette as if she was her long lost sister. _Fucking hell, Pontmercy!_ Bahorel will whistle. _So fucking romantic,_ Grantaire will repeat – she'll try to be as sarcastic as ever, but it will sound a bit too stunned and envious to a knowing ear, and Enjolras will glance at her subtly. _I'm so happy for you,_ Jehan will declare sincerely. Cosette and Marius will smile at each other. _I'm happy too,_ Cosette will say and Marius, although he will stay silent, will press her hand gently in his.)


End file.
